The Party
by Bramblerose4
Summary: By the end of the party I realized I had a pretty severe crush on my best friend. Noex.


**The Party**

By the end of the party I realized I had a pretty severe crush on my best friend. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised about these feelings. I can count all the people I consider important on one hand, and he was definitely one of them. If I am honest with myself he is the first person that came to mind whenever I did count. I am also pretty sure there were other hints and clues that I just didn't notice for whatever reason, I guess it's not as important now that I know.

We were in the Ben Franklin High School student parking lot when a stunning brunette came up to us and invited the two of us to her house for a party she was throwing that night. Even if I hadn't already known, it wouldn't have been hard to realize that this girl was one of the popular girls. To say that we were stunned at being asked to her place for a party would be an understatement. But then I remembered that it was table tennis season, which meant our history as champions had us in high demand in the popularity hierarchy.

It took the both of us to realize that we were too busy staring, mouths agape at her in shock to have actually answer her.

In unison we answered "Yes!" way more enthusiastic than we should have. I ignored the slightly worried expression on the girl's face as she text me the details to the party. How she already had my number, I didn't know. I didn't have time to question it as the girl had stalked off to invite the next group of kids that meet her standards. I was tempted to call out to her but then my phone chirped alerting me that I had a new text message. I opened the text and stared at the address, mentally trying to map it in my head; it wasn't too far from here.

We both couldn't wait for the party. We talked about nothing else while with piled into the Jeep and drove to the Snack Shack to get something to eat.

I don't know what I was expecting when we arrived, but I was somewhat disappointed to see that it was a regular party with loud pop music and roaming teenagers chatting in small groups about their teachers and what happened on their favorite TV shows that week.

Predictably we stuck together and had fun just doing our thing and trying our best not to be the awkward teenagers we are. It was then that he had once again proven how invaluable he was, not just to me but to the world.

A few of the jocks had gotten out of hand and were trying to peer pressure one of the juniors into stage diving from the garage roof into the pool 20ft below. Before the poor soul dove my best friend was there, all stern words and grand gestures. I remember standing there marveling at the way he can just take charge of any situation, and the way people responded to him, the way he made me respond to him. This wasn't even his house and he had people obeying his every command, even the seniors! It left me speechless.

Then he turned to me and grinned and I could feel my pulse jump like it normal did when facing a great challenge. I returned the smile and waved him over to me. I am ashamed to admit I wasn't very good at hiding my disappointment when he shook his lovely head. "No."

My face fell. Was he upset with me? Had I done something wrong? Maybe he had expected me to take care of the roof kid and resented the fact that he had to deal with it. My fears were wiped away when he motioned over the opposite side of the yard with a tilt of his head. I followed the direction and saw that there in the garage was a tennis table set up and people gesturing for us to come over and play a game.

I turned back to my best friend and see the look on his face;_ let's give them a show, _it said.

I felt my face match his and to the delightful cheers of the crowd we made our way into the garage.

Ah, the way the two of us play, it's like a dance. We pivot and swerve and lunge and dodge, both attacking and defending our sides of the table. The rest of the world disappeared when we play. The only thing that matters was trying to outsmart and out score each other and have fun doing it.

We spent the rest of the party in the garage playing table tennis. We played against each other and as partners, we gave tutorials and we tried to outplay each other with trick shots. I know how lame that sounds, but I really couldn't have had a better night, which he only made better by agreeing with me as we left three hours later.

I leaned against the Jeep waiting for him to finish saying goodbye to the brunette girl. It was while he was talking to her that I realized I wasn't really happy that he was talking to her. I could hear her giggle and I felt myself grow angry. That surprised me. I sighed heavily in an attempt to calm myself. There was no reason for me to feel jealous of this girl and yet I was. I shook the thought away as I heard him call my name. I looked up at see him walking towards me. He walked passed a street light and I saw that his face was red and smirked at him.

"What did she say?" I prompted, my curiosity being peaked by my jealousy.

"That she doesn't regret inviting us." He answered and copied my pose by leaning against the Jeep.

"Well, that's something."

I saw the corner of his mouth twitch up in a smile and I give into the urge to drape an arm over his shoulders and hugged him close. "Did you have a good time?"

"I did. Thanks for coming out with me, Rex. It was a blast." He said with a smile.

"Naturally, I make things better," I said and released him. "Right?" I added, looking for his confirmation.

He tilted his head back and laughed. "The best."

**Did you figure out who it was before the end?**


End file.
